08/23/2019- It could soon cost more for Marinette residents to get rid of any old junk they have lying around. The City’s Board of Public Works has begun initial discussions about readjusting the rates for residents bringing their waste to City Dump. Public Works Superintendent Pat Carlson says he’s been looking at what similar municipalities charge and the $5 per load fee for a single axle trailer is well below the dump rates for other cities. BPW President John Marx feels the city is well overdue for a rate adjustment and he’s concerned that’s enticing non-residents to find ways to bring their material to the dump.
“We need to do an assessment of what our current costs are…I think we’re way under-scale and that could be possibly be the reason that we’re generating so much waste at our dump- could be other people are using other people’s (city) cards. I’ve heard rumor of that, but no proof.”
However, BPW Member Ken Keller cautioned against increasing the rates too much, saying that could lead to some unintended consequences.
“I’m afraid if we raise the rates too much…we’re going to find more junk on city property.”
Marinette last adjusted their dump site rates in 2012. The BPW agreed to form a small sub-committee who will meet with Carlson to review other area dump charges and plans to bring a recommendation back to the board in the coming months.